First Direct Customers Possible Free £100.

rockrat

i have been a f.d customer for years, and have to say that they have been the most effecient banking service i have ever used without exception. That HAS a value. i am sure we all have horror banking stories to tell of being "put through the mill" so to speak.
i called f.d as my existing mortgage deal is due to end soon. FD were not competetive neough first time round and i decided to check again. I was unaware of the offer, but they mentioned it and i decided to take the challenge.
you have to remember that what they are looking for is not only your current mortgage offer elsewhere, but how much income/spare cash you have that can be "offset" against for interest payments. This is why they are only making it available to FD customers where they could actually see income and savings via FD accounts.
So if you had a killer deal elsewhere, but savings with FD or spare cash each month in an FD current account, they may be able to prove that in the longer term, this additional cash can be used to reduce the daily interest on the mortgage amount.

however, they conceeded that they could not beat my current deal even when the special offer expires ( i have no spare cash!!) and 100 smackers will be deposited within 28 days.
thankyou FD.

FYI.
my current mortgage is with Norwich & peterborough, taken 9 months ago.
Bank of england interest rate for 12 months, then 0.65% above for the whole remainder of the 20 year term. For me the important issue is NO PENALTIES at any time (even the offer period), and is portable. I moved during the last 9 months and it worked a treat.

Haggy_3

They have conceded that they can't beat my current offer either. 5.48% fixed for 25 years with the Cheshire BS.

I still have some paperwork to send them as confirmation but then 100 pounds will be put into my account.

One of the easiest 100 pounds I've earnt.

Many thanks Martin.

Haggy

Tyke_At_Home

FD have pestered me before about considering an offset mortgage - each time I've responded they've said it needs to be a minimum mortgage of £30,000. Lucky me, mine is only £21,500. I've tried again just now to see if I could qualify and they say I'm not eleigible unless I borrow more to top up to min £30K. So I don't get my £100, on the basis that I do not meet their qualifying conditions. But I would say that First Direct have been a brilliant bank and I have no complaints. If you want service, and it is worth a lot to me, I can not fault them.

dantebel

I have applied to move my Mortgage from Halifax to FD. I tried before I saw this, as they approached me direct.

As I am self employed, FD take an average 3 years income into account and said that my earnings were not enough to offer me the new mortgage. However, I have been paying the existing mortgage at the higher Halifax rate for the past 3 years with no problem.

Waste of half an hour on the phone!

rockrat

haggy.... your a brave man fixing for 25 years!!
if ever you need to get out of that its gonna cost a fortune surely. unless you have managed to get a no penalty fixed mortgage which i have never seen.
after having had 2 fixed mortgages in the past, both times i have had to pay to get out when moving etc i came to the decision that the no penaltie clause was the most important to me, and its worked a treat ever since sticking to that.

Haggy_3

This isn't really the thread to have a conversation about the merits of a 25 year fixed rate. But I do have penalty free windows in years 6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20 and I can overpay up to 5k a year.

Though I believe that rates could easily hit double figures in 10 years or more ( anyone guarentee me they won't!) - this is my insurance mechanism.

As of now I am extremely happy with it.

Haggy

Hobo_2

Nice one Haggy,i agree with your outlook as 15yr ago rates = 15.4% people soon forget or don`t realize what can happen & theres no mtg int relief now

MarkC_3

Thanks for the information.

I tried it but did not qualify for the £100 as despite being on a discounted rate until next January with Alliance & Leicester, they used the fact that the A& L standard rate is 6.84% and used this for the remaining 16 years of the mortgage.

Not that worried as I know some you win, some you loose.

Would encourage other FD customers to try it as it may make FD more likely to run similar schemes in the future, woudl it not?

Mark

dealseeker

Luckily I got the challenge offer through the post. I took them on in their challenge and won!

They credited my account today with 100 smackers. Result.

Easy really - Yorkshire BS Offset base rate tracker +0.75% for term of mortgage. First Direct couldn't beat it. Could hear the guy squirming on the end of the phone because it was so obvious there was no way they could match it.

Good luck to everyone else.

Haggy_3

Just to confirm to everyone that the money hit my account on the 25/2.

And despite them saying they wanted some paperwork sent in before they would credit the money they didn't.

Thanks FD

Haggy